Bita Moghaddam
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bita137.bsky.social
Bita Moghaddam
@bita137.bsky.social
Ketamine Karen, Dopamine Dame

Here via Tehran/KU/Yale/Pitt

author of KETAMINE https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262542241/
and a lot of good papers https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WNB2KvkAAAAJ&hl=en
Pinned
An amazing honor to give NIH’s WALS lecture today as the last speaker under the leadership of NIH Director Dr Monica Bertagnolli
For what it is worth, there may be a “genetic” message here as the allele for lactose intolerance (LNP) is a common trait in Africans and east/southern Asians (70-100%), but far less common in northern Europeans (~5%)
What the actual hell is going on with the eugenicist nazi pedos and whole milk? Did I miss something?
January 16, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Excellent piece about Iran but this quote is highly applicable to current US admin tactics:

“Fear is the cement of every authoritarian structure. Not ideology, not theology, not even brute force on its own can keep the towering edifice in place. Fear does”

Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/o...
Opinion | The End of Fear in Iran
www.nytimes.com
January 16, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
Trump is ready to punish the Iranian regime for violently cracking down on the Iranian people. Meanwhile, Trump is violently cracking down on American cities. #Iran #IranianRevolution2026 #Trump #ICE #crackdown #Protest #immigration #Minneapolis #Minnesota #ReneeNicoleGood
January 15, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
And some more good news...

Dr. Monica Bertagnolli has been elected as the next President of the National Academy of Medicine for a 6-year term that will begin on July 1, 2026.
a baby is crying in a crowd of people while a woman holds it .
ALT: a baby is crying in a crowd of people while a woman holds it .
media.tenor.com
January 15, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
Back in my favourite part of the US (Denmark) and enjoying a typical and delicious breakfast
January 15, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
An announcement from Noah Wyle and the CDC:
January 14, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
Nicole Kleinstreuer has been named deputy director at NIH (shes been acting in that capacity for some months)

@saratalpos.bsky.social talked w/ her abt alternatives to animal models in Oct for @statnews.com

www.statnews.com/2025/10/03/a...
She’s leading NIH’s push to reduce the use of animals in biomedical research
Nicole Kleinstreuer, who is leading an NIH effort to reduce the use of animals in research, began thinking about the issue as a toxicologist at the EPA
www.statnews.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:31 PM
💔
January 14, 2026 at 4:27 AM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
2000 people killed by the regime in the last 48 hours, according to opposition news agency Iran International.
January 10, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Bring back the “old” vibes please

I am here for it
Y’all this is giving old science twitter vibes 🥹
January 10, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Events of the week call for a favorite house cocktail: Negroni and The Goat

Recipe by chef Stephanie Izard, owner/chef of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat created for a Portland event a few years before I moved to this fair city
January 10, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
This site is a reflection of a big problem w/US society - navel-gazing on a level that helps ensure that the US govt is more an irresponsible intl actor than a responsible one. I've lived in few countries that care as little about the rest of the world but have such an outsized impact on it.
January 10, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Saw "It Was Just An Accident" last night 🤯

“يك تصادف بود”

GO SEE IT on a big screen if you can. The English subtitles do not do the dialogue justice as some of the dark comedy and curse words are not translatable but still, it was an incredible and beautifully made movie about human behavior
Holy shit. Fucking incredible movie.

Trenchant, riveting, gut-wrenching, occasionally hilarious, strangely moving. My heart was pounding in my chest for most of this.

One of the best films of the year. Maybe THE best.

Just because a repressive regime ends doesn’t mean its effects are over.
January 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Federal Agents Shoot 2 in Portland, Ore., Police Say www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...
Federal Agents Shoot 2 in Portland, Ore., Police Say
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 12:33 AM
Feds just shot two people in Portland 😣
January 9, 2026 at 12:30 AM
This checks out
west coasters checking the news every morning
January 8, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
My understanding is that this is a very serious rebuke to Trump & Vought insofar as science funding remains basically at 2024 levels. NASA in particular was ready for a bloodbath. A ways to go yet but a tremendous win for scientists who have been working their asses off to lobby for their jobs.
January 8, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
BREAKING: Internet access and telephone lines cut out in Iran after demonstrators joined protests called by the exiled crown prince.
Protests seen in Iran's capital after exiled prince's call for demonstration
Protests have erupted in Iran's capital following a call by exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for mass demonstrations.
bit.ly
January 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
We saw Jan 6, 2021 and Jan 7, 2026 with our own eyes.
This is not Orwell's 1984.
January 8, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Follow @chadbourn.bsky.social to get news of what is happening in Iran as the atrocities are not getting a lot of coverage in US/western media (understandable as other ugliness is happening closer to home)
A strike of shopkeepers and merchants is unfolding in cities across Iran.
January 8, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
Iran’s IPv6 networks have been fully disconnected from the global internet. An attempt by the regime to stop news of the protests spreading…and probably to cover any brutal clampdown.
January 8, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
I hear you, except that intermediary family members may not have the resources necessary to raise a child unexpectedly. Daycare costs, food, health insurance, etc, perhaps a bigger home.......child support is a necessary thing while the child is raised.
January 8, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Introducing: The Constipation Pyramid

You are allowed one walnut and 12 kernels of rolled oats after you eat a thick steak, a chunk of cheese and a whole chicken
This is not a structurally sound pyramid
January 8, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Bita Moghaddam
Murder is the intentional killing of another human being without legal justification.
January 8, 2026 at 3:24 AM
lol when you go to a journal site to decline/accept to review a manuscript and get the autoreply “we are very sorry but we already have enough reviewers” when it should be “REJOICE 🍻you have been saved the time to review another paper or make up a reason for why you have no interest in reviewing it”
January 8, 2026 at 12:42 AM